Last week, Mayor Kenney and members of the community schools team joined the National League of Cities (NLC) in hosting a Mayors’ Institute on Advancing Education and Health through a Community Schools Strategy. NLC selected Philadelphia as the host site for the Mayors’ Institute because of Mayor Kenney’s commitment to creating community schools in Philadelphia. Six mayors and their teams met in Philadelphia from May 2-4 for a problem-solving conversation focused on how the community schools approach is an opportunity to improve health and educational outcomes for children. Mayor Kenney was joined by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner; Toledo, Ohio Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson; Caldwell, Idaho Mayor Garret Nancolas; Rancho Cucamonga, California Mayor Dennis Michael; and Brooklyn Center, Minnesota Mayor Tim Willson.

The first two days of the conference involved in-depth discussions about each city’s successes and challenges with implementing a community schools strategy. A big takeaway from the discussion was that while the sizes of the cities were different, the challenges facing them are the same.

On the final day of the Mayors’ Institute, the City Teams visited South Philadelphia High School and Gideon Elementary School to get a look at how Philadelphia has implemented a community schools strategy in some of its public schools.

The first stop of the day was at South Philadelphia High School. As a special treat, the culinary CTE students made a full breakfast for their visitors including handmade bagels, warm cinnamon rolls, and even a crepe station! The teams received a tour of the school, met community schools partners and practiced mindfulness under the direction of the Inner Strength Foundation. They were even able to hear from a panel of representatives from the Health Department and the School District of Philadelphia, which discussed how community schools are partnering with City Departments to support children and families.  Once the group was finished touring South Philadelphia High School, they took off for Gideon Elementary School for their final stop.

At Gideon, the City Teams were joined by Mayor Kenney, Gideon School Principal Taylor, and Community Schools Coordinator Gregory Wright, who shared Gideon’s vision of one day incorporating a community health center into the school.

A student led the group in one of Gideon’s now famous ‘movement breaks,’ where the group was challenged to do 5 jumping jacks, 4 squats, 3 arm circles, 2 dabs, and 30 seconds of running in place. Greg explained that the movement breaks are done over the loudspeaker every day so that the whole school can participate. Over lunch the group heard from more community school coordinators about some of the highlights and challenges of their job.

After the coordinator round table, the City Teams heard from some of Gideon’s community schools partners, including Philabundance, which pilots a backpack food program at the school that sends every student home with 5lbs of food in their backpack each month.

Soon, it was time for the City Teams to catch their flights back home. The visit was a huge success and the teams relayed their excitement to go back to their cities with a renewed sense of possibility.

Learn more about the National League of Cities Mayors’ Institute day one and day three via CBS3.